Stories of family and ancestors who lived and worked in Cohoes (textile and garment workers, butchers and barbers), Waterford (canalers), Whitehall (farmers and canalers), Port Henry (iron miners and Civil War soldiers), Champlain (canalers and farmers) and other towns along the Champlain Canal in New York State with some diversions to the places they emigrated from....Quebec (landless farmers, shoemakers, sailors, soldiers), Acadia (more farmers), and even Cornwall, England (tin miners).

Sunday, January 29, 2012

There once was a time when a camp at the lake was really a camp. It was rough living, no soft chairs and picnics weren't set up on patios. Food was simple and beer was cheap. After WWII, Americans wanted to have a little fun with their friends and family. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the effects of alcohol on toddlers, wasn't given much thought and you see what I mean when you watch this clip! In this home movie, Rivet, Yetto, Mylott, and LaMarche families and more gather together at Saratoga Lake where someone was renting a camp. Don't be shocked when you see adults giving beer to toddlers - it was a totally different state of mind back then.

By the way, all four families -Rivet, Yetto, Mylott and LaMarche were French-Canadian family names with Anglicized spellings and/or pronunciations

Many of the children in the video are alive so I won't be naming young folks. There are many older folks who have passed and I do recognize - Al Rivet, Art Mylott, Doris LaMarche, Walker Yetto. You can catch a glimpse of a very young Margaret Yetto sitting on the picnic bench near the end of the clip. There's several other adults who I don't know....I would love help from any Yetto or LaMarche who might be able to name some of the adults!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Spring flooding in the Mettowee River can be especially dangerous. Almost one hundred years ago, in June 1912, Willard Mylott son of George L. and Mary E. Wilson Mylott, drowned in the raging waters. Willard was a twin but his twin brother, Willis, died in infancy. Willard's brother, Richard, survived the ordeal in the river.

Monday, January 2, 2012

If you follow this blog you know it is dedicated to three individuals, Arthur Mylott, Al Rivet and Dorothy Wills. When expanded, it traces four French Canadian Families: Mylott or Millot dit Champagne, Rivet, and Bissonnette and Beauvais families. An interesting fact comes to light as the family tree expands backwards to the 17th century, Arthur and Al , Arthur and Dorothy, Al and Dorothy as well as Al and Dorothy and Arthur together, are all cousins several times over! In other words, they share ancestors or "Founder" couples who are relatively recent - in the past 12 generations - from old Québec and Acadia. Call it "convergence". It is an interesting fact how individuals who live in close geographical proximity, share the same language, economy, religion and customs are more likely to intermarry and develop complex extended families. It is just a fact of life in closed social groups and one that is changing as complex communication networks (Facebook, internet) and international travel are the new "norm". As diversity increases, no one is surprised with wide cultural and genetic mixtures. I can still remember my surprise meeting a mother from Yemen, dressed in traditional hijab and abaya, who communicated to me in Spanish. Her husband was Cuban and she couldn't speak English. At my work it is not at all uncommon for a child to have grandparents from Jamaica, west Africa, Latino America, Italy or Ireland.

CONFLUENCE
French speaking Québec families shared the Catholic religion and an agricultural livelihood. Marriages were made between 2nd and 3rd cousins with dispensations from Catholic bishops. Several brothers often married several sisters. They seldom entered into marital relationships with English, Scotch or Irish after the English took control of Québec after the conquest. In the US, we call that event the French and Indian War. The French Québec marriage pool was initially limited to the finite number of French families who lived in villages along the St Laurent River. Like the honeycombed structure of bone matix, close interrelationships solidified Québec society together.

A CLOSER LOOK AT CONVERGENCE
So let's consider instances where the family of Al Rivet, Arthur Mylott and Dorothy Wills converged. We will look at a few of the most recent ancestors common to all three families. To do this let's return to the post of September 18, 2011 about Our Forefathers in the Carignan-Salieres Regiment. About midway through the story, it states Louis Robert and Nicolas Sylvestre dit Champagne were members of the Carignan-Salieres Regiment and common forefathers to three of the five families the story focused on.
For the sake of clarity, let's take a closer look at Nicolas Sylvestre dit Champagne. Nicolas was born in Pont sur Seine, Champagne, France and married Marie Barbe Neveu on August 20th, 1667 in Québec. The line of their daughter Marie Anne Sylvestre, continued to both Arthur Mylott and Al Rivet making them 8th cousins once removed. Dorothy Wills, through her mother Elizabeth Bissonnette's line, descended from Nicolas Sylvestre, the brother of Marie Anne and youngest child of Nicolas Sylvestre and Marie Barbe Neveu, making Dorothy a 7th cousin once removed of Arthur Mylott and also a 7th cousin twice removed from Al Rivet! Interestingly, Al Rivet is a cousin to himself - Nicolas Sylvestre and Marie Barbe Neveu are his grandparents via his paternal grandmother and his maternal grandfather! Louis Riel, the leader of the Métis Rebellion in Manitoba, also could have claimed Sylvestre and Neveu as "grancestors".
Another Quebec couple, Jacques Lussier (1646-1712) and Catherine Clerice (1653-1715) are common great "grancestors" of Arthur Mylott, Al Rivet and Dorothy Wills (and, by extension, any of their siblings).

MORE INSTANCES of CONVERGENCE
According to my genealogical research, Al Rivet and Arthur Mylott have at least THIRTEEN cousin relationships, Arthur Mylott and Dorothy Wills have at least SIX cousin relationships, and Al Rivet and Dorothy Wills have FIFTEEN cousin relationships. Additionally, there are at least EIGHT cousin relationships or eight common Quebec and Acadian founder couples that are shared by Arthur, Al and Dorothy!!

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“But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”

Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. 1927.

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...may not seem particularly easy. I post information and stories in whatever sequence comes to me and sometimes it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I may post about someone and three weeks later write about them again. In between the two posts, there may be stories about other people or places. That is why there is a search button at the bottom of this page.

Thanks for reading and commenting! Email me at FrancoAmericanGravy@gmail.com